I think he wrote that one for the paycheck. He might have had some fun writing it though.
I wasn’t sure what happened at the end of the Hyperion/Endymion books so I e-mailed him and asked my big question. He responded with a “Yes.” 
All I’ve read of his is Hyperion. I liked the Canterbury Tales aspect of it, but that was all. After trudging though sixty million pages just to find the huge blinking sign that said “SEQUELS AHEAD - no resolution for at least three more volumes” I gave up and never looked back.
And I’ve defended Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy on this board. Make of that what you will.
This. I absolutely loved this book. On the other hand, I thought **The Terror **sucked.
I loved Hyperion and *The Fall of Hyperion as well as Endymion and The Rise of Endymion.
*
Illium didn’t move me at all. I remember reading here that this was the masterpiece - meh. I never read Olympos since it continued the previous tale.
I need to read Song of Kali. Wow - I just checked Wiki and there are a lot of catching up I need to do.
I thought Carrion Comfort was hella good. Summer of Night I didn’t like; to me it read like he was aiming it at selling the movie rights.
Hyperion was brilliant, simply amazing, and The Fall of Hyperion, while not quite to the same level, was also excellent. I too was disappointed at the bait-and-switch he pulled in the Endymion novels, and found them rather muddled.
I haven’t read any of his recent work; Summer of Night pretty much killed my interest in him as an author.
Very good, though out of his usual genre: The Crook Factory, Earnest Hemingway hunts for German U-Boats in the Caribbean in 1942, with cameo appearances by Ian Fleming
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who recommended Mr Simmons.
I had the night off of work last night and didn’t feel like going out or having company, so stopped on my way home and bought The Terror, along with a bottle of wine and some rolling papers.
I went home, cracked a window, and curled up in my chair to read. It was about -20 outside last night, with loud gusts of wind that beat against the house to remind you just how damned cold out it was; it was the perfect weather to read this book to.
I finally had to put the book down somewhere around 2:30 am. I am loving it. I’m a little afraid that the Esquimaux woman is going to turn out to be a shapeshifter, which would be kind of lame, but I’m definitely enjoying the journey, even if the arrival will be a disappointment.
Thank you all.
(I also picked up Drood while I was there, and I can’t wait to start it.)
I liked the early Simmons; Song of Kali was terrific (though you may have to read it before anything else of his) and Carrion Comfort is a fine horror novel. Summer of Night is also very good, and I enjoyed the Hyperion novels and Phases of Gravity.
I did find Ilium a real disappointment, and thought Darwin’s Blade was a real hack job – a second rate mystery that was only an excuse to describe guns in loving detail and recount hoary old urban legends.
If I’m remembering it right…
Short version: The Technocore succeeds in making its “Ultimate Intelligence”. Humans also create a god, with human attributes (important one being empathy). They ‘fight’ in some sense, the human god flees back in time. The UI creates the Shrike and the tree of pain, in an attempt to lure out the human god. The Shrike is based on that Kassad fellow, IIRC. After he defeats the Shrike. Yay for time paradoxes.
IIRC it’s never explained in detail though, and the Endymion books contradict it, sooo.
I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but it just sounds so damned awesome. I don’t generally read sci-fi (the last of the genre that I read and enjoyed was The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I also enjoy pretty much all of Harlan Ellison’s stuff) but this sounds very interesting, and everyone so far has raved about the Hyperion books. Might have to give those a go also.
I’m reading The Terror right now and really enjoying it. Seems appropriate, in the dead of winter. Glad to hear that he’s got some other good ones out there.